Mingri “Ezra” Jin, head pastor of Zion Church, is seen on September 12, 2018, in Beijing, days after authorities shut down one of China’s largest “underground” Protestant churches. (Getty Images)
A microchip and Taiwanese flag displayed on a phone screen are seen in this multiple exposure illustration photo on April 10, 2023. (Jakub Porzycki via Getty Images)
A worker inspects the form of the shaped steel billets following the press stage in the manufacturing process of 155mm caliber shells at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Pennsylvania on April 16, 2024. (Getty Images)
A soldier from the 47th Brigade's mortar crew, Varvara with the call sign 'Kosa', aims a mortar for firing on August 12, 2025 in Sumy Oblast, Ukraine. (Vitalii Nosach via Getty Images)
Chinese honor guards participate in a welcome ceremony in Tianjin, China, on August 31, 2025, as Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. (Vladimir Smirnov via Getty Images)
Chinese military personnel take part in a rehearsal ahead of a parade commemorating the eightieth anniversary of victory in World War II in Beijing on August 20, 2025. (Pedro Pardo via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute